Three Rivers, Two Mysteries

Nearly three years had passed since Blairsville dentist John Yelenic was savagely murdered with a knife in his home.  A jury decided the fate of accused murderer Pennsylvania State Trooper Kevin Foley, the live-in boyfriend of John’s estranged wife Michele.  But even with the verdict, John’s friends and family wondered if justice had been completely served. What was Michele’s role in all of this, if any?  Should she have faced some consequence for the literal death of her husband and the figurative death of her lover? Those questions linger today.

Friends and family of murdered Blairsville dentist John Yelenic were frustrated. A year had elapsed and still there was no arrest in the brutal slaying. It seemed to them the logical suspect was right under the nose of Blairsville police and, later, state police investigators who took over the probe. State Trooper Kevin Foley had motive, means and opportunity to kill John in his home on April 13, 2006. Kevin lived with John's estranged wife, Michele, and he told anyone who listen that he wished John would die. John's cousin Mary Ann Clark approached then-Attorney General Tom Corbett and asked him to take over the probe. Corbett, who knew Clark through politics, agreed. Six months later, Foley was arrested in the homicide.

A year had passed since beloved Blairsville dentist John Yelenic was savagely murdered with a knife in his home on April 13, 2006. There had been no arrest -- this despite the fact that state Trooper Kevin Foley, the live-in boyfriend of John’s estranged wife, Michele, and a knife aficionado, had openly and often said John should die.  On the anniversary of John’s death, more than 130 friends and family held a vigil outside his home. Amid the sadness was the haunting feeling that maybe justice would never be served on an officer of the law.

Generous, kind and funny, John Yelenic had dated regularly but never felt he had met the woman to marry. But with his mother's wish and at the age of 29, John thought maybe it was time to settle down. Why not with Michele Magyar Kamler,  the 25-year-old woman he was dating? Friends quickly ticked off the reasons for their concern, but the couple wed anyway. John would learn all too soon this would be no fairy-tale marriage.

John Yelenic so loved his hometown of Blairsville that after he graduated from dental school there was no question where he wanted to practice.  A fine dentist and an altruistic millionaire, John became revered for his generosity in helping anyone in the tiny town who needed a financial boost. That’s why residents were horrified and bewildered when John’s body was discovered slashed and sliced in his home on Holy Thursday 2006. It was a mysterious and tragic end of a well-lived life.

“To Love and to Perish,” Season 2 of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette True Crime podcast, examines the stranger-than-fiction tale of how a love triangle and its infidelity, greed and hatred led to a gruesome murder. Why was a beloved small-town dentist brutally killed in his home?  And who wanted him dead? Find out when the first episode is released Sept. 12.

The team behind the awarding-winning Season 1 of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette True Crime podcast returns for a second season. Host Michael A. Fuoco and producer Ashley Murray are following the success of “Three Rivers, Two Mysteries” with another true crime tale. The new season, “To Love and to Perish,” explores the true story of how love, betrayal, greed and hatred in a small town erupted into a gruesome murder. The first chapter is scheduled for release in September. To take a listener’s survey, go to post-gazette.com/podcastsurvey

The team behind the awarding-winning Season 1 of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette True Crime program returns for a second season. Host Michael A. Fuoco and producer Ashley Murray are following the success of “Three Rivers, Two Mysteries” with another true crime tale. The new season, “To Love and to Perish,” explores the true story of how love, betrayal, greed and hatred in a small town erupted into a gruesome murder. The first chapter is scheduled for release in September. To take a listener’s survey, go to post-gazette.com/podcastsurvey

Ellen and Jack Kochu, the parents of Paul Kochu and Jess Kochu, his sister, discuss Paul’s life, the painful mystery of his disappearance, and their contentions about how he died. Pam and Jeff James, parents of Dakota James, also share their sorrow, the legacy they want for their son, and their doubts about the investigation of his disappearance. The families’ comments about the cases, the podcast and their grief were recorded during a live public event on Dec. 7, 2017, at the  George Roland White Theater at Point Park University in Downtown Pittsburgh. The moderator is Andrew Conte, director of the Point Park’s Center For Media Innovation, where the podcast was produced.

Forensic pathologist Cyril H. Wecht, psychologist Paul Friday and attorney, college professor and former FBI supervisory special agent Lawrence Likar talk about their involvement in the Post-Gazette podcast and offer opinions about the cases of Paul Kochu and Dakota James. Their discussion was recorded during a live public event on Dec. 7, 2017, at the  George Roland White Theater at Point Park University in Downtown Pittsburgh. The moderator is Andrew Conte, director of Point Park’s Center For Media Innovation, where the podcast was produced.

“Three Rivers, Two Mysteries” host Michael A. Fuoco, producer Ashley Murray and editor Virginia Linn detail how the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette came to produce its first serialized podcast. During a live event on Dec. 7, 2017, they discuss their interviews with families, experts, and detectives concerning the baffling disappearances and deaths of Paul Kochu and Dakota James. Additionally, they explain their audio production process, bumps in the road and other behind-the-scenes details. The recording was made during a public event at the George Roland White Theater at Point Park University in Downtown Pittsburgh. The moderator is Andrew Conte, director of Point Park’s Center For Media Innovation, where the podcast was produced.

Grief, frustration and even anger remain as the third anniversary of Paul Kochu’s disappearance and the one-year mark for Dakota James approach. Both families have hired private consultants to help them with their goal of determining what happened to their sons. Additionally, the Kochu family has set up a scholarship and the James family has established a foundation to keep the memory of Paul and Dakota alive--even as questions about their deaths still loom large.

The Kochu and James families felt detectives did not prioritize their cases and treated them with insensitivity. Police deny the claims but say they understand why the families might feel that way. Because of all of that, the district attorney has started a new program to assist families of missing people.  Meanwhile, whether Paul and Dakota’s cases can possibly be linked to the theory of the Smiley Face Killer serial killer is a matter of conjecture, much of it on the Internet.

Dakota James had a focused mind, a sharp wit and a soft spot for older generations.  A graduate student at the same Pittsburgh university that Paul Kochu had attended, he had plans to go to law school. Dakota was gay and because of that, his parents worried for his safety. After a night of barhopping with a co-worker in January 2017, he disappeared as he appeared to be walking to a bridge on his way home. In March 2017, his body was found in the Ohio River not far from Pittsburgh. Was this a hate crime? Or could it have been an accident, as the medical examiner ruled?

Paul Kochu, a native of eastern Pennsylvania, was a compassionate, caring and pleasant ICU nurse in a Pittsburgh hospital. But in December 2014, after being injured in an altercation with a roommate, he disappeared into the night. The following March, his body was found floating in the Ohio River, 85 miles downriver from Pittsburgh. Was this a murder, an accident or a suicide?

The unexpected death of any young person is a tragedy. But when the circumstances of a young person’s unexplained disappearance and subsequent death are unsolved mysteries, grief grows exponentially. That is the experience of the families of Paul Kochu and Dakota James, two promising young men who mysteriously disappeared from Pittsburgh on winter nights separated by 25 months. The vexing questions of their cases continue to bedevil those who loved them and even strangers moved by the tragedies.

In this upcoming serial podcast from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, we'll look at the eerily similar and mysterious deaths of Paul Kochu and Dakota James. How and why did they go missing? What might have happened to them? How did Pittsburgh police approach these cases? And how have their families and friends coped with their mysterious deaths?